1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing order processing method and a printing order processing system for processing printing orders regarding image data received via a network. The present invention also relates to a program embodied on a computer-readable recording medium that causes a computer to execute the printing order processing method.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are known digital photograph service systems for carrying out various types of digital photograph services such as storing photographs obtained by users in image servers after digitization thereof, recording the photographs in CD-Rs to be provided to the users, printing images photographed by users with digital cameras, and receiving orders for additional prints. As one form of such digital photograph service systems, a printing service system for receiving printing orders via a network such as the Internet has also been proposed.
In such a printing service system, a user installs viewer software in his/her personal computer that acts as a user terminal, for reproducing image data recorded in a recording medium such as a CD-R or obtained by a digital camera. The user reproduces images represented by the image data, and generates order information describing the content of an order by using an ordering function built-in to the viewer software if the user wishes to place an order. The user transfers the order information and the image data representing the images to be printed to an order reception server installed in a service center for receiving the order from the user terminal via the network such as the Internet. The order reception server transfers the order information and the image data to a print server installed in a large-scale laboratory for processing the order. Printed matter such as additional prints, picture postcards, or a photograph album is then generated in the laboratory, based on the order information.
The printed matter generated in the above manner is delivered or mailed to an agency specified by the user at the time of placing the order. The user visits the agency and can receive the printed matter by paying a charge at the agency. The user can designate the agency at the time of placing the order, and a desired store or the like close to the place of residence or employment of the user is generally designated as the agency. The image data and the order information are transferred from the order reception server to the laboratory in collaboration with the agency designated by the user.
The order information herein referred to is information such as a processing number for specifying the content of a printing service (generation of ordinary prints or picture postcards or the like), an image number for specifying a photograph (a number representing an image data file), a print size, a quantity of prints, specification of printing paper (such as glossy or non-glossy), thickness of the printing paper, the content of image processing, and trimming specification, for example. The order information further includes information regarding the name, the address, the zip code and the phone number of the user, for example.
The printed matter generated in the printing service is delivered or mailed to the agency designated by the user at the time of placing the order, and the user receives the printed matter at the agency, as has been described above. If the agency installs a server for receiving the order information and the image data as well as a printer to print the image data, the agency can function as a laboratory. If the agency has the function of a laboratory, delivery of the printed matter to the agency becomes unnecessary. Therefore, although the agency is small as a laboratory, the time necessary for providing the user with the printed matter can be shortened.
In the printing service system described above, the user can place the printing order regarding the image data by using his/her personal computer at any time of his/her convenience, regardless of whether it is in the daytime or at night. However, the printing order is placed regardless of how busy the laboratory or the agency (hereinafter referred to as the printing service provider) is. Therefore, in the printing service provider, a large amount of printing orders may concentrate in a specific time period, or almost no printing order may be placed in another time period. For this reason, it is difficult for the printing service provider to accurately estimate when the printing order of the user is processed completely, and the printing service provider conventionally notifies the user of a rough deadline such as in 3 working days, for example. Furthermore, in the case where a large amount of printing orders are concentrated, a communication line of the network becomes congested. Therefore, the time necessary for the user terminal to transfer the image data and the order information to the order reception server in the printing service provider becomes longer. Moreover, in the case where a large amount of printing orders are concentrated, a printing processing apparatus installed in the printing service provider is in full operation. On the other hand, in the time period when almost no order is placed and thus printing processing is hardly carried out, the printing processing apparatus is almost idle. In this manner, the printing processing apparatus is not used efficiently. Since the printing service provider needs to install a system in consideration of the case where a large amount of printing orders concentrate, a large-capacity server becomes necessary for processing such orders. Consequently, the system becomes larger and the cost therefor increases.